Broken Land

from the burning sun. He felt sweat trickle under his black Uzizi armor and he frowned, cursing his ye

for awhile upon their Ujimi; lean, hard, scaly beasts that put the speed and versatility of a horse to shame, possessing cara

ing over Monama and his men. Monama could see the Famka archers on the wall, their eyes trained on him and his men. Monama cursed silently. He had a great dislike for the Famka archers. Their aim was almos

was common to all Ngapa men. One of them drew closer to him and nodded, taking in Monama’s armor which bore the sign of the king: two snakes intertwined with each oth

eing asked without having to hear the words. This man was young and he was not i

pa tribe and the man looked at the company of thirty soldiers that had accompanied Monama on his journey and he turned, calling out orders to the other men. The g

rs. He saw the women carrying baskets full of purple Oromo fruits on their heads, wearing the long, thin gowns and metallic anklets that jingled as they walked. Most of them gaped at the presence of Monama’s men, some just ignored them totally. The company of men came to an immensely large stone building that pointed upw

ith hostile eyes. He knew it was not really him they were looking at but the Zakanmi warriors who made up a larger part of his men. He shrugged and climbed off his ujimi, patting the creature’s scaly skin and letting his eyes wander, taking in the tall trees that he had played upon as a child, the small, privatetraining ground where Unala had drilled in the art

erytime he drew breath and his chest expanded to inhuman proportions. He smiled at Monama and Monama felt warmth spread ac

beginning to think you had forgotten us,

re. I only remembered I had a brother when you came through that gate.” Monama said a

n will be taken care of as well.” He said and turned quickly. Monama turned to his men and nodded. The guid

ly. Monama realized his mistake and felt shame steal over him. He c

, framing it as a statement that the man could either

ht you could not recognize

nama knew different. The man could get angry and when he did, it was often catastrophic. The inside of the house told nothing of the shape of it’s exterior. It was cold within, despite the heat and humidity, a phenomenon that baffled Monama since he was a child. It was sparsely furnished as was normal within all Ngapa homes and it had small, bronze busts lined up along the walls. These were the busts of previous chiefs back to the time of the kings. Fonati le

ed his attention. He started as he heard footsteps behind him, his hand resting on the hilt of his blade by reflex. He turned to see a tall, young woman come up behind him, peering at him with dark yellow eyes. She had a small smile on her lips and he wondered idly how she had been

asculine voice. “You do not remember

ed it and flew into an embrace, gripping him tightly, armor and all and he froze awhile then shrugged. It seemed she took her

w you’ve grown. My brother must find it a stressful task indeed, warding off all those

a man that’s not scared of her.” he said and she gave a mock gasp befo

rought for me later, eh?” she said and Monama raised both

sked around the fields. No one has seen

bit, turned and hugged Monama again, surprising him and ran off. Monama suddenly felt some of his strength return an

many times must I tell her?” he said a

raised his eyebrow at the

healing. Wish I could get her to stop using

oked to the direction his niece had gone and felt lightness in his chest. It had been a long while since any of the harnessers were born to Ngapa. Since the twenty year wars fo